Many South Africans were interested in the State of the Nation address that the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, was due to deliver last Thursday evening.
As a retired teacher, I was particularly interested in whether there was any truth in the rumour that a hefty chunk of the Government Employees Pension Fund was going to be “borrowed” to assist Eskom to overcome its financial problems.
I could not bear the thought of my meagre pension being watered down any further in order to assist a lame duck state enterprise that finds itself in dire straits because of corruption and mismanagement.
No sooner had the speaker called the house to order, when the EFF members started a stream of points of order specifically aimed at disrupting the speech that millions of South Africans and potential investors from abroad, were waiting to hear.
The shenanigans continued for about an hour.
What struck me as absurd was the bearer of the Black Spear, the Speaker of the House, was totally ignored and mere politicians simply ignored her instructions for them to refrain from allowing the majority of the house, the public gallery and the television viewers the right to hear what the president of the country had to say.
What an embarrassment to the country these hooligans are.
Their credentials as politicians should be withdrawn. Breaking rules and laws should be punished but these misguided individuals break the laws of the country and parliament, and at worst, they will get a tick on their fingers.
It is astounding that Julius Malema has several court cases stacked against him and has already been found guilty of a few other cases, yet he has the brazen audacity to call Pravin Gordhan a benefactor of corruption and state capture.
While he was waving his hands at the speaker accusing her of not allowing the EFF to raise their hands-on points of order, the Breitling watch on his wrist was ticking away merrily – a watch that costs a great deal of money.
The same night that pandemonium was being created in Parliament by the EFF, a group of people were having a braai in Williamson Street, next to the Methodist Church.
Once their braai fire had burnt down, what did they do next? Pulled out chainsaws and cut a huge tree down that was growing on the pavement in front of the Umdoni Municipal Offices blocking the road!
Late at night one would imagine that people living in the vicinity would be aware of something untoward going on.
Not even those at the South African Police Services, who are a few hundred metres from the scene, had their suspicions aroused and went to investigate.
